The bad news is that Tabula Rasa, the NCsoft developed MMO that drew on the experience of Richard “Lord British” Garriot, of Ultima fame, is closing down. The good news the publisher announced is that the game would be playable for free until then. Initially, the MMO was supposed to become free to play on January 10, 2009 but it seems that, as a sort of Christmas gift, NCsoft eliminated the subscription element, which means that anyone can now play the game, if only to see what's all about before it closes down.

Tabula Rasa promised gamers a break from the fantasy MMOs that are dominating the market, with World of Warcraft from Blizzard as the most successful subscription based massive multiplayer experience in the gaming world. The story involved aliens, weird scripts and artifacts, while the fighting aspect of the game was supposed to be rather based on the reflexes of the players than on simple number crunching and mashing of abilities. It should have been an evolution on the mechanics employed by the MMOs of the moment.

When the game launched, most players found the universe to be only half finished, with some significant bugs affecting the experience and with little to do after the initial levels. NCsoft labored to increase the content offered by the MMO, yet the game never attracted a significant following, which made new players rather uninterested in getting involved in the universe.

With subscription revenue limited, NCsoft decided that the game would be closed down on February 28, 2009, with the official servers going offline. Meanwhile, anyone interested in the experience of a sci fi MMO can take Tabula Rasa on, even though motivation for progress might be limited by the nearing cut off date.